Models in Hijab In London Fashion Week Aiming To Empower Muslim Women Worldwide
Models dressed in headscarves and Islamic robes took to the catwalk for the first ever London Modest Fashion festival with the aim of empowering Muslim women.
Dozens of models took part in the inaugural event at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel yesterday to showcase the leading designers of the ‘modest fashion’ world.
Similar events are due to take place across the United Arab Emirates in Dubai and Doha, Qatar, over the coming months.
It was founded by two Muslim women, London-based Doctor Fahreen Mir and human rights barrister Sultana Tafadar to ensure ‘the permanent presence of modest fashion in the mainstream fashion industry’.
he women claim those who choose to cover most or all of their bodies are ‘not adequately catered for’ by designers and want to change perceptions of them to the rest of the world.
But they stress modest dressers are not just women from ‘particular religious and cultural identities’ and should be ‘celebrated, empowered and supported to make their own choices – sartorial or otherwise’.
The event also describes its objective as: ‘To break archetypes and pre-conceived notions of the modest dresser and instead to recognise and celebrate their achievements, and to empower and inspire others to combine substance with style.
‘The concept of this platform was borne out of a desire to promote the life and lifestyle of the Modest dresser.
Among the models was 20-year-old Somalian-American model Hamila Aden who was the first ever contestant to compete in her Miss USA state pageant in a hijab and ‘burkini’.
She was born in a refugee camp in Kenya but moved to St Cloud, Minnesota aged six.
She gained international media attention for her bold presentation of her Muslim faith and has since been featured in Vogue and walked for designers in New York and Milan.
The inaugural catwalk was hosted by Dr Myriam Francois-Ferrah, a Franco-British journalist who specialises in Islam in France and the UK.
Her career began as a Hollywood actress aged 12 in Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, when she played Margaret Dashwood alongside Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson.
She now has a regular column for the New Statesman and her documentaries on religion have been shortlisted for awards.
Source : Dailymail UK
